


Farewell

by SoDoRoses (FairyChess)



Series: LAOFT Extras [68]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Grief/Mourning, M/M, WAY more bitter than sweet, bittersweet but not even a little proportional, i cried literally the whole time i was writing this tbh, original character death, the romantic relationships arent the focus its just a big family feels pile, this is just a big ol sobfest yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 10:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20740562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyChess/pseuds/SoDoRoses
Summary: At the end of the road, there is always the goodbye.It is as good as it can be.





	Farewell

**Author's Note:**

> for this prompt:
> 
> You know, reading about May bring in a wheelchair got me thinking about how old she really is. And I’m a sucker for angst. So maybe? May’s funeral or how she died? I apologize in advance if any tears are shed. - 🍁
> 
> Takes place about 22 years after the main story. All the warnings for angst ahead my friend. it hurts
> 
> many thanks to [@trivia-goddess](trivia-goddess.tumblr.com) on tumblr for betaing this and not cursing me for inflicting it on her and now you

They were supposed to be cleaning up from lunch, but how was Patton supposed to complain that humming old cartoon songs had prompted Logan to pull him into a dance that was really more of a slowly spinning hug?

He couldn’t even be put out by the slight damp spot on the back of his shirt, where the rag in Logan’s hand touched him. Not when Logan had started humming along to “Everything Stays” even though he always said they were far too old to be watching cartoons with an adolescent daughter.

Logan dropped a kiss on Patton’s cheek, smiling when Patton giggled, and another on the other side.

The shadow under the table lunged, and Patton took a moment to wonder why Virgil was back so early.

And then Virgil stood, his face ashen, and Patton’s blood froze.

“Where’s Lin-”

“Dad?”

Virgil’s question had made Patton’s stomach twist, even though it was cut off by Linda’s voice in the door. But when he turned, he knew immediately why Virgil had asked.

Her eyes were wide, her cheeks tracked with tears. She had her hands curled against her chest, and her shoulders were hunched.

Virgil slumped in relief next to them, reaching for her.

She recoiled.

“… Linda?” said Patton, “What’s wrong?”

Linda’s eyes flickered between the three of them, though they nearly skipped over Logan. She looked more scared than Patton had ever seen her.

“Linny, please tell us what is wrong,” said Logan.

Linda scrubbed at her face, letting out a shaky breath.

“There’s banshee in the yard,” she croaked.

Patton’s knees didn’t buckle, but it was a close thing.

Logan had grabbed his shoulder, squeezing.

“What?” said Patton.

“There’s _banshee_ in the _yard_,” Linda snapped.

“Linda,” said Virgil sharply.

Her face crumpled.

“Sorry,” she said wetly, “I’m sorry, I just-”

“It could- it could only be Eirwen,” Logan tried to soothe.

Linda let out a miserable noise.

“There’s five of them,” she sobbed.

Patton swallowed.

“Did you- have you gone in your Mamaw’s room?”

“N-no, I- I was too scared, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna see-” she choked.

“Hey, honey, it’s okay, you don’t have to cry kitty-girl,”

Linda finally rushed forward into Patton’s open arms, sniffling into his shoulder. Patton cast Virgil and Logan helpless looks over her head, but both of them looked like they were going to be sick.

And that was when the screaming started.

—

Logan stormed out the front door, and he understood he was experiencing some kind of rage-induced tunnel vision but he couldn’t seem to stem the flow of his anger in the slightest.

Eirwen was at the front, because of course she was – the other four banshee were hanging back, and he could at least recognize that they seemed slightly less enthused to be here.

“_Leave,_” Logan snarled.

Eirwen’s wailing note trailed off, though the other banshee didn’t stop. She smiled at him, tilting her head with the most nauseatingly _false_ innocent expression he’d ever seen.

“You can hardly fault me for doing what is in my nature,” she said sweetly.

“You have fulfilled the parameters,” he spat, “We know. _Leave,_”

“What do you know about-”

“Do you want me to kill you?”

Eirwen’s brows raised. She let out a short laugh.

“Please, I’m not an idiot. You’re bluffing, _Logan_. You couldn’t do it then. What makes you think I’ll believe you can now?”

“When I was seventeen and only wanted to get away from you?” said Logan, “No, I could not have killed you. Now?”

The earth shifted under their feet, enough to make Eirwen and the other banshee stumble. Logan didn’t move, and he wondered how long it was going to take them to figure out how monumentally _stupid_ it was to remain on property a Spring lived when they were unwelcome, in the middle of _April._

“You did not come here out of obligation,” said Logan coldly, “You came here to hurt us. You have frightened my daughter. Your _shrieking_ has harmed my human husband, and likely exacerbated Nana’s condition. You are, _as always_, being cruel for the sake of it and nothing else,”

The ground lurched again, and Eirwen’s already pale face had gone ashen. The grass was growing at an alarming rate, and turning so dark green it was nearly black.

“I do not care about your nature, Eirwen – you will leave or I will kill you. There is no third option,”

She didn’t make him say it twice – there was a _snap_ like cracking lake ice, and she was gone. The other banshee remained.

“It was not an exclusive threat,” said Logan.

They all looked deeply uncomfortable, which was just about the only thing stopping Logan from making good on said threat. They did quiet, standing still and shuffling.

They were young, he realized – the red haired one looked to be a teenager, and the two dark-haired and the blonde maybe twenty. It was difficult to tell though, with fae – they may well be older than him.

“We did not come with Eirwen,” said the blonde.

Logan chest twisted.

“The witch is well-loved,” said one.

“Many will mourn her,”

“We only came to help,” said the red-haired one in a painfully small voice.

Logan squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment.

“I understand,” he said, blinking rapidly, “But more human family members are coming and you are causing more harm than good. You have successfully warned us, and your duty is fulfilled. You need to leave now,”

The smallest of them actually shrank back, like he’d hit her.

Logan might have felt bad, if he could feel much of anything besides roiling misery at the moment.

He waited until the four of them were gone, and allowed himself to put off the return to the house for a full ten seconds.

But there was no putting it off forever.

May’s door was cracked open, and Logan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her gruff voice from inside. He pushed the door open, and Patton waved from one of the chairs next to the bed. May squinted at Logan past Linda, crouched on the bed and staring at her grandmother like she’d vanish if Linda looked away for a moment.

“Afternoon, Nana,” Logan said softly.

“I ain’t dead yet, stop actin’ like yer at a funeral, Logan,”

Logan swallowed.

May sighed.

“C’mere, baby, sit down,”

“I’m more than forty,” he said, even as he obeyed and sat in the chair next to Patton’s.

“Yer all my babies and that’s that. Ya can argue with me all ya want tomorrow,”

Logan didn’t respond, because he knew there would be no arguing tomorrow.

“Ya scare her off?” she said, “Makin’ a damn racket, the frigid bitch,”

“_Granny,_”

“Linny knows not to repeat anythin’ I say, Patton, don’t nag me. Ain’t that right, sweet girl?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Linda faintly.

May seemed to realize her jokes were going to continue to fall flat. She gave Linda a sad smile and reached out one arm, until Linda crawled forward and set her head on May’s frail shoulder.

“Where is Virgil?” said Logan.

“Went to get Roman,” Patton replied, “And your parents, probably,”

“Don’t see why we gotta make a federal issue out of it,” May muttered.

Logan was seized with a sudden flash of miserable, heartbroken anger.

Why today? Why a good day, when she was lucid and snarking and being flippant and petty, being _May. _Why now, when there would be no _relief_ from it, that she was no longer suffering, only the hollow reminder of everything they were losing?

Something flicked him in the forehead.

Logan frowned at her, and May frowned right back.

“Not. A funeral,” she huffed.

Logan didn’t cry, but it was a near thing.

“Yes ma’am,” he said quietly.

And then they settled in to wait.

—

Virgil hung in the back of the stage, waiting for an opening. There were teenagers everywhere, and he didn’t want to accost Larry and Roman in front of them, but also-

Well. They were on a time crunch.

A short blonde boy came around the curtain, startling when he saw Virgil. Virgil held up his hands non-threateningly.

“Oh, hey Mr. Gage,” said the kid. Even with the misery of the day clinging to him, _that_ was never going to get old to Virgil.

“Do you need the, uh, other Mr. Gage?”

Virgil nodded.

“Kay, I’ll be right back,”

Virgil stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to think of something to say when the kid came back with Roman, but by the time they returned he still hadn’t come up with anything.

But Roman came around the curtain, took one look at Virgil, and went nearly gray.

“She was awake when I left,” said Virgil immediately. Roman relaxed some, but not by much.

“There were banshee,” he said quietly, “Five. Four, not counting… you know,”

“… Oh,” said Roman.

Virgil wished desperately he was better with words. That he had any idea what to say at all.

Instead, he just opened his arms, and Roman rushed forward and curled into Virgil’s chest like he wanted to hide from the whole world.

They left the stage, down into the seats, and Virgil tried furiously not to focus on Larry’s more-salt-than-pepper hair or the wrinkles on his face. He, too, seemed to understanding what was happening without being told.

“Hey, kids!” he called, and dozens of adolescent heads swiveled towards them. A couple startled when they noticed Virgil, but most of them just waited.

“We’re packing up early,” said Larry.

“… I thought we were doing lights today?” said one of them.

“It’s an emergency,” Larry replied. A few of them seemed to catch on, and started hurriedly rushing the other kids through the process of closing down the rehearsal.

“Go ahead,” said Larry gently, “I’ll go get Dot and the others. I’ll meet you there,”

Roman nodded, his breath already unsteady.

Virgil lead him over to the corner, pulling, and Roman fell with him into the shadow. He barely flinched as they passed through, though he did startle when he saw the state of the lawn – overgrown and wild, clearly supernatural. Logan must have been furious.

_Good,_ thought Virgil.

Roman nearly ran into the house, and Virgil followed even though every inch of him was screaming for him to bolt.

Linda was waiting outside May’s door, and she gave both of them a smile that Virgil thought was probably supposed to be reassuring. Slumping in relief, Roman stepped forward as Linda moved to the side so he could enter the room.

Virgil went to follow, and Linda held up her hand hesitantly.

“What is it?” said Virgil softly.

Linda opened and closed her mouth several times.

“Hey, kitty-girl, talk to me,”

“How old is Oma?” said Linda, quiet enough that probably even Logan wouldn’t be able to hear her in the room.

“Ninety-four,” said Virgil.

Linda worked her jaw back and forth.

“How old are you?”

She’d never asked before. Virgil had never offered it up. He wished she asked any other day but today.

“I don’t know, exactly,” he said.

But even that seemed to make her face shutter.

“I’m sorry,” said Virgil, knowing it wasn’t enough.

Linda gave him a dry look, scrubbing her face. She stepped forward, and Virgil gathered her close and squeezed her knobby shoulders and wished more than anything he could take this from her.

Years ago, he’d thought telling Greta goodbye, and eventually Roman and Patton, everyone – he’d thought nothing could be worse.

But this – knowing Linda, who’d only lived a dozen years and was looking out on the rest of her own long, endless life with _this_ hanging over her?

It was so much worse.

“Do you want to go in?” he said.

Linda hesitated.

“No one will blame you if you don’t, _liebling,_”

“No, I- I do,”

“Are you _sure?_” he pressed.

“I’m sure,”

But even then, she stayed tucked under his arm as they entered the room.

—

She’d asked to go outside.

Roman probably would have done just about anything Mamaw asked of him at the moment, but all she’d wanted was to go outside.

Mamaw had even huffed about being “presentable” and bullied all the men out of the room so Dot and Linda could help her get dressed. Linda must have helped her into the chair, because when the door opened the three of them were on the other side, Linda pushing the chair and Mamaw dressed in a sunflower yellow dress. Her hair was braided, and whichever one of them had done it had done so skillfully enough that the thinness was barely noticeable.

Roman felt ten years old again. He’d never felt older.

It was Logan and Roman, though, who helped her into the bench swing in the middle of the garden, and Roman and Dot who sat on either side of her. The others brought chairs from the back porch, except for Logan and Virgil, who sat at her feet, and Brian, who was leaning on the swing’s frame furthest from Roman.

Linda perched on his arm of the swing – Roman didn’t know what she was doing to make herself light enough for it, worried she might be over-extending herself. But she was so pale, right now, and still so small, no matter that she was taller than Patton now. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her to move away.

Even in the wheelchair, the trek to the yard seemed to have exhausted Mamaw. She leaned on him, heavy and fragile, like a glass sculpture. Dot gingerly held her hand on Mamaw’s other side.

“Daffodils came in nice,” said Mamaw.

“Thank you,” said Logan.

In the trees just passed the garden, a dark shape moved. Roman and Mamaw both looked up.

“You gonna come over here or just lurk?” said Roman thickly.

Dizzy was making her way across the lawn, radiating misery, but Jax remained on the branches where he was.

“I shouldn’t,” said Jax quietly. “I’m not like Dizzy, Roman. I don’t-”

Mamaw hadn’t said anything, but she shifted next to him, and Jax let out a low hiss that Roman could only imagine was a sob.

“I don’t know what I’ll do,”

“Does Jax need a place to perch, Uncle Roman?” said Brian, “I can go get another chair,”

“No, baby,” said Mamaw, cutting across Roman’s agreement, “Jax is gonna stay over there,”

Brian hesitated.

“But-”

“He’s good where he is,” she said, firm but gentle, “We’ve been together a long time, sugar. Me ‘n Jax have said everythin’ we need to say,”

Dizzy hopped up into Mamaw’s lap. She curled up there, her back pressed to Mamaw’s stomach, and started a stuttering purr.

“Glad you got rid a’ that damn banshee,” said Mamaw, “Wouldn’t do for me t’get in a fistfight right now,”

Roman let out a wet chuckle and Logan snorted.

“She should rightfully be terrified of you,” said Logan.

“Between you and me she’d be lucky to even get away,” said Dot.

“Yeah, two old ladies and a buzzard versus an angry banshee,”

“I could almost feel bad for her, being that outmatched,” said Roman.

“I couldn’t,” said Virgil, Larry, and Thomas in exact, perfect unison.

Which set Mamaw off into a round of cackling that made Roman grin even around the lump in his throat. She coughed a little around her laughter, settling back down.

“Yer all trouble,” she said, “Every one of ya, a buncha menaces,”

“We learned from the best,” said Dot.

“Damn right ya did,”

They lapsed into another silence. After a few minutes, Roman saw Mamaw squeeze Dot’s hand.

“I’d offer to say hello to Abby for ya,” she said dryly, “But I don’t know if she’ll wanna talk to me. I wasn’t much of a mom,”

Roman felt like he’d been stabbed. It was a question, a plea for reassurance, as much as Mamaw was capable of such a thing. She was scared, no matter how much snark she tried to bury it in.

“Maybe not,” said Dot quietly.

She squeezed Mamaw’s hand back.

“But you are a very good grandma,” she continued.

“Best one I ever had,” said Roman, pressing a shaking smile against her hair and trying not to sob.

“I’m the only grandma ya ever had,” she deadpanned.

“Best one I could have asked for, then,” said Roman.

“Like ya’d know what to ask for anyway,”

“Oh my god,” Roman laughed, “Just take the compliment, you crone,”

She sat up slightly, like she was going to argue further, and then-

And then she relaxed.

“Alright,” she said.

And that, more than anything else, was how Roman knew it was over.

Logan hadn’t lost control like this in years, but purple spikes of hyacinth were poking out of the ground in a steady circle, spreading from the swing out. It made the air smell sweetly fragrant, even as the cloud of grief hung over all of them.

“Love you big bunches,” said Linda.

Mamaw smiled over at her.

“Love you big bunches too, sweet girl,”

Roman managed to force it out, even though his chest felt like it was caving in. Mamaw echoed him too, and didn’t even point it out.

They stayed like that, in that afternoon sun, in the garden of the house Roman grew up in – surrounded by herb patches older than him and flower beds younger than Linda and everything in between. They stayed for hours, exchanging quiet and meaningless conversation that really meant everything.

He didn’t actually notice. Not until Dizzy went still as stone in Mamaw’s lap, and the hollow feeling in his ribs started gaping wider.

Dizzy sat up, pawing at Mamaw’s stomach.

“Dizzy,” he said quietly.

“Shut up,”

“Dizzy-cat, please,”

She didn’t speak then, just made a pitiful little cat-noise. Linda said something to her and Dizzy hissed back.

Another hiss answered her, and Roman looked up.

The buzzard – because he was just a buzzard, now, no matter that he would always be Jax to Roman – had his wings half-spread, staring at them. He beat them once, and Roman could almost imagine he was close enough for the wind to ruffle his hair.

He jumped, and Roman watched him go until he was a careening, circling shape over the trees, and then a spot of black in the distance, and then as he disappeared over the treeline.

Next year, Logan would come into the garden and hear a noise. He’d investigate, because that’s what Logan does, and find a turkey vulture perched on the older, nearly-collapsing shed on the back of the property. Inside, he would find a pair of fluffy, angry baby buzzards, and all of them will feel – not good. Not healed. But better.

But that’s next year.

For now, it was enough for Roman – barely, but it was – to know that Jax was _somewhere_.

—

Brian followed the short, well worn path between his uncle’s place and his and Kitty’s tree house. Kitty liked to pretend she was mysterious, but Brian thought she was just about the most predictable person he’d ever met.

Brian made a lot of jokes about being older than Kitty, but they all knew she was the big cousin in _most_ situations. And then sometimes they were evenly matched, the few years she didn’t _actually_ have rearing their head.

And then there were times like this, when Brian felt the eight months between them like a knot in his stomach.

None of the adults wanted to talk about it, but Kitty was slowing down. Had been, for a couple years now. She joked that Brian was gonna look those eight months older soon, but Brian hadn’t missed the way her hands shook.

“Hey, B,” she said tonelessly, when his head popped through the trap door. Brian didn’t bother to answer, just crawled up and across the wooden floor, sitting across from her with folded legs and offering her his hand.

Kitty took it, giving him a wet smile that had nothing but anguish behind it.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he said. His own voice was still a little thick.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m already dead, Kitty,”

She flinched, and Brian immediately felt bad.

There was a long pause.

“I knew,” she said, “But I guess I didn’t, like… _know-_know. And now I-”

She shook her head, eyes spilling over again.

“B, how the hell am I supposed to do this forever?” she croaked.

“What do you know about forever? You’re like twelve,” he said thickly

“Oh my _god_ why are you like this?” said Kitty, but she did crack a smile so Brian was calling it a win.

Brian tried to imagine it – outliving everyone. Outliving huge oak trees and whole town’s worth of buildings and people. But forever was a long time, and not even all fae got-

Brian paused.

“You might not,” he said.

Kitty cast him a strange look.

“Do it forever,” he elaborated.

The look became suspicious.

“I mean,” he continued, “I’m not saying I- _want_ you to get offed, obviously. But you can’t tell the future. You don’t know this is forever,”

“And then what?” she said dryly, “Are you saying- what, that there’s some kind of – afterlife that accepts nature spirits?”

Brian shrugged.

“I’m saying you don’t know,” said Brian, “None of us do. I’m saying there’s hope, even if it’s small,”

Kitty swallowed, smiling that sad smile.

“Is that the truth, B?” she said, “Or are you telling me a story?”

“Yes,”

She snorted.

They sat in silence, Kitty leaning against the wall and Brian squeezing her hand every once in a while. Then she turned, and this time her smile was a little less pained.

“You should,” she said, “Tell me a story,”

Brian grinned back.

“Which one?”

“The best one,” she said, “Your favorite,”

He nodded, letting go of her hand so his were free. He held up three fingers, and Kitty beamed.

“Ask three people how to get to Wickhills,” he said, “And you will get four different answers…”

**Author's Note:**

> i'm also [ @tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors](tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors.tumblr.com) over on tumblr, and im not taking prompts rn but feel free to send me an ask about the verse <3
> 
> Also i am HIGHKEY sorry
> 
> Edit: so in my quest to be Dramatic and Cyclical with the last line, i have led some people to believe that this is supposed to be the last LAOFT oneshot - its _ definitely _ not, i would not do that to yall. 
> 
> there will be more, specifically more fluff because this Hurt and i need to recover lol


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